Athens, 27/11/2013

I was surprised and irritated to see this morning's press reports in two pro-government newspapers, namely “Ta Nea” and “Ethnos”, full of distortions regarding what I said in a meeting with members of the Greek Cabinet in the context of the meeting of the Conference of Presidents of the European Parliament with the Greek government.

I stress that no journalists were present in the meeting.

I actually made a specific reference to Greece’s public debt exactly in the opposite direction than the two newspapers describe. I said that a debt audit is necessary for Greece so as to sort out the immoral and illegitimate part of it, which should not be repaid. That is one of the routes to promote solidarity between the working people in Greece and Germany. I never could have – and didn’t – oppose the Greek to the German citizen. Even to think of it is an offense to me.

 I also criticized the Greek government for presenting a rosy and misleading picture of the economic and social situation in the country.

 Since, as I said before, there were no journalists present at the meeting, and the two press reports tend to present the same “heroic response” by the Foreign Minister of Greece to statements never made, I don’t want to assume that he is the architect of the two press leaks.